Army women showed last week Friday that when they got out of their fatigues and uniforms they could be a force to reckon with in the beauty and pageant arena and the soldier representing the Air Corps, 24-year-old Shameka Devonish, marched off with the title of Miss Guyana Defence Force 2012 outrunning 10 other women in the process.
The other finalists included 1st runner up, Miss Finance Department Kessa Massiah; 2nd runner up Miss Training Corps Cameta Trotman; 3rd runner up Miss Infantry Battalion Eunice Henry and 4th runner up Miss Chief of Staff Office Natisha Dos Santos.
Though not favoured by the audience from the inception, Shameka managed to cop four of the special prizes: best talent, best gown, best smile and miss congeniality. Taking the best physical fitness and miss body beautiful prizes were Natisha and Kessa respectively.
Unlike your everyday pageant, these 11 women had to battle to showcase not only their beauty, intelligence and talent but their competence and vigour to carry out their duties in the GDF.
The physical fitness course, saw the women competing on February 17 in a 3-mile combat run, navigate the obstacle course, doing a memory test, competing in a falling plate shoot and in grenade throwing at Camp Stephenson where the talent and swimsuit segment were also hosted prior to last week Friday night’s event.
However, patrons did get the opportunity the see the ladies strut around the stage of the National Cultural Centre in a one-piece, red swimsuit. In addition to this, persons got a glimpse of the activities they had participated in when a brief video was shown.
Scores from these segments were prerecorded and tabulated, making the job of the judges easier as all they had to judge were the evening gown segment and the intelligence segment.
Shameka outshone her rivals in the final question when she dished out a well-delivered, smooth answer which won the applause of the half-filled venue.
When asked, “In a letter to the editor, one writer wrote, the women’s army corps has better things to do and can find better ways to celebrate 45 years than to hold a pageant. What are your thoughts?”, Devonish explained that a pageant such as the Miss GDF not only gives female soldiers the chance to showcase their beauty but their talent and intelligence as well, adding that they have done an exceptional job in their fields when having to rub shoulders with their male counterparts, giving Corporal Windee Algernon as a proud example.
Prior to this segment, all delegates demonstrated true elegance when they appeared beautifully dressed in their evening attire astounding the audience with the remarkable transformation. Shameka chose to wear a simple yet alluring full-length white gown with black designs and adorned herself with delicate jewellery. Other women wore designs by Olympia Small and Randy Madray among others.
Prizes for the queen included $200,000 cash, a $200,000 educational gift, one laptop, a scholarship and other prizes. The first runner-up was awarded $100,000 cash, an $80,000 educational gift and a laptop while the 2nd runner-up was presented with $50,000 cash and a laptop.
Patrons were also entertained by the Classique Dance Company, Kenrick Cheeks who performed an Indian Khatak dance, Mr GDF who made an appearance with an eye-catching muscle flex display and finally, a song by Private Jones – “You’re Beautiful” by Christina Aguilera.
Judges in this pageant were Collette Jones-Chin, Russell Lancaster, Elizabeth Persaud, Nigel Niles and Vivienne Daniels.
